Grass is Always Greener
by Poppin' Roxin
Summary: Their demons from the future were chasing their past selves, one trying to guide them safely and the other plotting their destruction. Sakura just can't seem to cope.


**Grass is Always Greener**

_Uhhh… yeah this also came out of nowhere. In fact, the idea came to me when I was coming back from Karate about an hour ago. XDDD. I seriously need to get these stories down, though, guys, so I'm sorry if you want an update. If I don't then the idea just vanishes from my mind and then it's lost to the world forever until something triggers it—which can literally take YEARS. And this seemed interesting, I don't have a particular plot so far but I'll just put it down._

**Prompt: **Don't you wish for a second chance—to go back into time and fix something? Or at least to talk to your past self to make sure something doesn't happen?

**Date started: **12-23-10

**Summary: **Their demons from the future were chasing their past selves, one trying to guide them safely and the other plotting their destruction. Sakura just can't seem to cope.

**Author: **_**CiiCiinREX.**_

**Disclaimer: IDNON. Huurrrplz.**

**WARNING****: It's a bit GORY.**

.

_Chapter 1:_

.

_A bloodied girl panted, her broken nails clawing at the dusty earth underneath her. It was so hard to tell what color her hair had been from the red staining every inch of her body. The forest green Chuunin vest covering her upper torso was hanging on in tatters, her red shirt was torn underneath as well, her skirt and shorts were sliced in every way possible and were shorter than they had been. Shifting her body up by jutting her raw palms on the ground, she gnashed her pink and white teeth, the liquid dribbling out of her cracked lips in gushes. Her breathing was forced, raspy, and hollow as she exerted every muscle she had in her body to merely prop herself off the floor. Flicking her pained orbs to her surroundings, she spotted the kunai and craters littering the area. Her hearing sense drifted, and then perked up at the sound of metal clashing and battle roars echoing. _

_Exhausted, she held in her breath as she attempted to sit up, only to fall back on her back this time and let out a loud cry of pain. It was then she noticed how damaged she was. Deep gashes decorated her once perfect, porcelain skin, her body fluids flowing out as her muscles hung on her bones like crimson ribbons. She almost sobbed when she spared a glance at her hands; the enemy had cut of her thumbs so that she couldn't use most of her jutsus. Feeling moisture pool around her, she turned her head to see how much blood she had lost. She was literally in a puddle, and she closed her eyes to calm down and slow her heart beat. She didn't need to lose more blood just so she can bleed out her own death._

_Willing herself to forget about the pain, she found herself able to place her body up and support her own weight on her two injured legs. Staring in front of her, she saw her friends—some were furiously fighting and holding themselves against their opponents, while some were on the floor unconscious in their own large pool of red. Swallowing shallowly, she didn't spare the bodies a glance in fear that she would see one of them dead._

_It was all a rush. She felt her body robotically move forward step by step in a slow rhythm, and everything was darting around her quickly as she kept her steady tempo. Panting, she felt her body screaming to rest, to lie on the floor and sleep, but she fought it in fear that once she let her eyelids droop, she wouldn't breathe any longer. Colors were smashing and clashing, hurting her eyes as she stumbled a bit and fell and moaned. Nevertheless, she struggled and was able to bring herself back up to a standing position yet again._

_She remembered. _

_They were at war. Madara… Sasuke… blood… enemy… Naruto…_

_Sighing out, she finally felt her body give out after ten blocks and for what seemed like an eternity. Her brain was shutting out all the other noises other than the soothing, flowing river she heard in the back of her mind. It lulled her and tempted her so very badly. Still she fought it, when she felt the ground under her tremble violently. Picking her head up, she saw an enormous boulder tumbling her way swiftly, the mass incredible as it gathered up speed each second. _

_Feeling weak, she promptly gave up and observed with half-lidded eyes as the large object rolled her way. Her death was literally rushing at her at an amazing pace. The light dimmed out of her eyes as she accepted her death full-fledged. Emerald orbs shut slowly as it came closer and closer…_

"_Sakura!"_

_"Sakura-san!"_

"_SAKURA!"_

_She heard them; Lee, Kakashi, Sai and all the others… But it was too late._

_Behind her eyelids, she felt a hand brush against her shoulders comfortingly and softly. Instead of seeing black like she expected to see like everyone described from a near-death experience, she saw a bright, vivid white._

'_Goodbye everyone… You've fought well…'_

_._

_Would you want a second chance?_

"_At… what?"_

_At life, to fix something that has happened._

"_Fix something?"_

_What is it you wished you could go back in time to change?_

"_I wish… I could stop Sasuke-kun from leaving, or at least be with him when he does… I wish I could be… nicer to Naruto, he was like a brother to me and he was so kind to me… I wish I could be stronger for both of them…"_

_Is that what you want?_

"_Yes…"_

_Very well._

_._

_Naruto panted with a triumphant smirk painting his whiskered face. It was done, he had done it! He had been able to defeat Madara alongside Sasuke, and bring him out of the dark and tell him the truth! He fulfilled his promise, he couldn't wait until he saw everyone's faces when he showed them that he finished his goal._

_Grinning brightly, he stumbled out of the dusty horizon with Sasuke's arm draped around his shoulders. His excitement shot through the roof when he spotted a large array of figures in the distance, their shadows showing through the foggy cloud. He picked up his pace despite Sasuke's grunts of protests when his shoulders began to smack against his bruised cheek. Hollering with a Cheshire grin, he halted, "BAA-CHAN!"_

_Tsunade stepped forward a bit, her hazel eyes widening at the sight of him before they softened. Everyone cheered at the sight of him and his accomplishment, Rookie nine dashing over to his side, jumping up and down and sputtering out congratulations. The jinchuuriki laughed happily, feeling reality set in. _

_He got Sasuke back._

_The war was over._

_He did as he promised!_

_Recalling the last thought, he scanned the crowd of Rookie Nine for a shade of pink, but frowned when he didn't see Sakura or anything red other than decaying blood. Nudging a wolfishly grinning Kiba, he asked rather loudly, "Oi, Kiba! Where's Sakura-chan?"_

_The Inuzaku's eyes widened as the rest of them quieted down solemnly, their smiles wiped off their faces. In the background, the other ninjas who weren't Rookie Nine were hugging each other, hooting as they fell to the ground in relief. Naruto tilted his head to the side, where as Sasuke looked upon the Konoha nin his age in question._

"_Oh, Naruto…" Kiba finally uttered, very seriously. "I… I'm…"_

"_It's okay! You don't know where she is, I'll just look for her myself!" The whiskered blonde grinned as he limped over with Sasuke in tow past the Rookie Nine._

"_N-naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered, letting her gaze drop down to the dusty floor in despair._

"_Naruto," Said boy's smile grew larger when he spotted his ex-sensei approaching him._

"_Kakashi-sensei!" He bounded—or at least tried to—over to him as the Uchiha muffled something under his breath in suspicion. "Maybe you can help me, do you know where Sakura-chan is? The teme here wants to see her!" The boy mentioned mumbled something negating the energetic ninja's claims, which the blonde pointedly ignored._

_Kakashi's eyes darkened, and he was silent for a few moments. "Neh neh, Kakashi-sensei! Don't you know where she is?"_

"_Yes," The gray-haired man sighed, walking forward to where he fought Zabuza and Haku with Sakura in the same squad as him. "Follow me." _

_Naruto trailed him despite how painful it seemed to others how it was to move around in his battered state. There was a joyful skip in his steps, one that rather annoyed a certain boy who had his arm around him reluctantly. "I can't wait to see her face!" The Uzumaki told the spiky-haired mentor ecstatically. "She'll be so happy to see teme back!"_

_Kakashi stopped in his steps abruptly and closed his eyes, squeezing them shut rather painfully. Both of his ex-students halted as well and a silent question lay in the air at the expression of emotional hurt the jonin was putting on. "Kakashi-sensei…?"_

"_I'm sorry, Naruto… Sasuke…" The man started, turning his head to the right, to what looked to them as off into the distance where the sun was setting. "Sakura… she…"_

_Both of their eyes widened as they followed his gaze, horror of reality setting in. Behind them, they could hear Ino crying hysterically, breaking down after holding in her sadness after so long. "No… that can't be her… It just can't be!" Naruto said, his breathing pace quickening as tears pricked at the edges of his eyes. The blonde could hear the Uchiha swallow loudly, and his heartbeat picking up behind him. _

"_No…" Sasuke chanted at the sight of his female teammate, the very one who told him that she genuinely loved him. "No… no no no. No, NO!"_

_A body lay in front of them, crumpled as if a large weight had rolled over it. White was poking out of the mangled mess of limbs, the color of the person's bone. The large patch of red was sickening as it continued as a streak to where a large boulder lay off in the sidelines, half of it submerged in blood. The whole body was red, only small spots of pale flesh here and there, and flattened so horridly that it was parallel to the rocky ground. It was a girl by their long hair—which was hard to tell the color since it was so bloody—and their curves, which only made their stomachs drop even further. Their face was the only thing that remained in tact, and it was oh so familiar to the Uchiha and Uzumaki. She smiled even when she was dying, blood dripping out of her chapped lips as her emerald eyes dulled to the point where they both could tell she was very well dead._

"_NO NO __**NO**__!"_

"_SAKURA-CHAN!"_

.

She was running, that was the first thing she noticed.

It was very breezy; the trees were a blur due to her hurried pace, green and brown merging as she dashed forward. She wasn't sure why she was running, though. The girl felt something flutter on her body as she leapt from branch to branch, and she realized it was a cape as it streaked in the wind. Blinking, she felt a feeling of guilt settle in her heart.

Why did she feel guilty? She couldn't remember what happened before… In fact, when she glanced down, she saw that she was wearing attire unlike the red dress she usually wore, and she felt a little taller in the world, even if it were just a few inches.

She shut her eyes for a moment, when all of her emotions rushed at her at once, nearly making her choke. Sadness, anger, betrayal, fear, anticipation… confusion… All of them were intense and tightly bounded in a cluster that it hurt her heart. Her throat went dry in an instant, and for some reason she felt the burning instinct to flee in the opposite direction.

But run from what? Her head began to hurt very badly, the sharp migraine furthering her anticipation.

The next thing she knew, she was on top of a broken bridge setting, staring across from her spot. The path was broken clean in half, although the two sides stood up strong. Squinting her green orbs, she spotted two figures on the other part. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw a familiar face.

'_S-sasuke-kun?'_

It couldn't be! But… he had the same features, eyes and hair, so it had to be him! His eyes were bleeding… what was wrong with him? He was glaring down at a fallen redheaded girl in a black cloak, who had a long trail of blood leading up to her. Her glasses seemed to be threatening to crack, and her hair was spilled unto the concrete as she gazed up back at him with a distant look in her orbs. He said something that she couldn't hear with a malicious expression, and then readied himself to hit the girl.

"SASUKE-KUN!" She couldn't stop herself as the name tumbled out of her lips in a frenzy. The boy's head snapped up and she watched with violent tremors down her spines as his eyes captured hers, staring intensely into her eyes with a bone-chilling emotion.

His brow furrowed down, and then he glared at her as well, "…Sakura. What are you doing here?"

Her world began to blur as she saw the colors of Sasuke move around as she jumped forward and stepped forward. Fuzzy, vivid shades of blue, orange, red and green—and the occasional pink whenever her hair swayed in front of her face—made a tornado around her as the sound filtered out, whishes of wind the only source of music in her ears when he body expertly danced. It was as if someone were pressing a fast forward button on a tape or movie as the characters moved so quickly.

When it all slowed down, she found herself clutching a kunai with both of her hands and gnawing at her bottom lip as if she felt she had to do something she would very well regret. She gulped, staring down at the redhead girl who weakly met her gaze with her ruby orbs. The bleeding girl spoke, "Don't do it… Sasuke-kun."

_Chi-chi-chi-chi-chi._

Eyes wide at the sound of the thousands of birds chirping, she turned and looked over her shoulder to see Sasuke with a livid expression, his hand holding the electricity as it came closer and closer to her face.

When it was merely inches away, she saw a figure slap down his hand and cancel out his attack. Sakura was surprised to her sensei whom she only met two weeks ago yank on Sasuke's arm, saying, "How low you've fallen… Sasuke."

Everything rushed again, and she felt herself move around much more than the last time. She felt her chakra drain a little as she used a small jutsu on the vulnerable girl, she felt water drip down her face as sadness gripped her heart, she felt anticipation as the world slowed down and she was running upside down.

How… how was she doing this? She was defying gravity!

She poised her kunai, and was rushing towards a person who was rubbing their eyes furiously, but the Uchiha symbol on their back was enough to say who it was. Horrified, she felt her body pick up speed as she launched herself, her kunai pointing straight at Sasuke.

'_no… no. Don't do it! NO!'_

Memories, ones of that which she couldn't remember and ones that she could, flashed in her mind as she slowly descended to killing the Uchiha boy. She recalled seeing him in her Academy days when she was blushing when she first spotted him, and then she saw her and the rest of her new team huddled around as if taking a picture, and one that made her heart wretch. Sasuke was behind her, the night young as the wind whistled through the leaves, he whispered in her ear under the moonlight, "Thank you…"

'_STOP!'_

She suddenly did so. Inwardly, she breathed out a sigh of relief, but outwardly she cried heavily, her kunai just inches away from slicing his back or damaging his spine. However, she nearly cried out when he lashed out at her seconds later, his hand grabbing her throat and squeezing. She gasped, and she could hear Kakashi scream from the sidelines, "Sasuke! Don't do it!"

It was pointless, though. He slapped the kunai out of her hand, and she could only watch as he stared at her with burning, merciless eyes that spoke of death and hatred. His face was so beautiful, filled with angry emotion and looking so very dark, and she could only observe as the kunai she was going to use to kill him began to descend upon her…

.

"_STOPPPP!"_

Sakura jolted up, sweat dribbling down her pale skin as she panted heavily. Her emerald eyes were wide as she slightly splashed around in a sea of soft white, the mattress underneath her groaning as she thrashed. Her gaze met her pale-beige ceiling, the one she always remembers waking up to every sunny, bird-filled chirping morning. It was night, however. Rays of moonlight streaked into the clear window-door at her balcony, showering her in sparkles of white on her pale skin.

Heart pumping quickly, she jerked up into a sitting position and cradled her head into her hands. That dream… it felt so real! The pain, the emotion, the wind cutting against her and the chakra that flowed through her…

"What…" She choked out, tears spilling out of her eyes as she pulled at her pink locks. The liquid slightly stained her sheets and pajama pants as she trembled. "What was that?"

.

_No, she didn't go back into the past. Or, she might have, seeing as I don't have a plot for this story yet. XD._

_Yeah… random. :P_

_OMG, that dream scene was so GAY. I love my descriptions when I see in my head, but when I have to describe something from the actual manga word from word, it gets really hard. :(_

_Anyway, I'll go work on my other stories for now, I guess. It's a slow day and I'm tired from all that family fun yesterday. LOL, my whole family including my relatives are HILARIOUS despite the fact that I don't have any cousins near my age._

_Yeah… I still have a week left of break. More updates, maybe:)_

_Review please! I think my brain is subconsciously making a plot for this story already so yeah…_

_This is more of a fling, if anything. But I already have an idea for the next chapter, and I'll make that review requirement thing as soon as I get an idea of how many of you guys actually like this._

_FEELING BLANK,_

_~CiiCiinREX._


End file.
